Governance

RMWCA Officers

EXECUTIVE BOARD

President: Kelly Webster, University of Montana

I welcome the challenge of serving as President for the Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association, an organization that inspires me to reach out to and learn from colleagues across our large region. RMWCA has been an important resource for me, and volunteering for this role reflects my belief that each of us has a responsibility to help sustain the RMWCA community. I have acted as the Director of the University of Montana’s Writing Center since 2008. In addition to my role as Director, I co-administer UM’s University-wide Program-level Writing Assessment and coordinate a number of writing in the disciplines and writing across the curriculum initiatives. While I enjoy working with faculty and teaching workshops across the disciplines, I still am most satisfied when talking with student writers in the Writing Center—I always will delight in the ethical and necessary work of writing tutoring. Before directing the UM Writing Center, I co-directed the Chemeketa Community College Writing Center in Oregon. Prior to my time in Oregon, I taught as a teaching fellow in the Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I always have loved the West, but I love the Rocky Mountain West (and its writers) best. I am eager to work with the current Executive Board members to ensure RMWCA’s visibility and to cultivate support for the good writing center folks in our region.

President-Elect: Clint Gardner, Salt Lake Community College

Having worked in writing centers for over two decades, I have learned a great deal about writing center theory and practice, one-to-one instruction, peer tutoring, the role of writing centers at two-year colleges, as well as the uses of computers in composition classrooms and in the writing center. My role as Program Manager of College Writing and Reading Centers at Salt Lake Community College allows me to teach writing and academic literacy to students from diverse backgrounds, as well as to teach tutors how to respond more effectively to their peers. My writing center research includes the impact of writing center work on peer tutors, two-year college writing centers, and online writing tutoring. I have also had the opportunity to serve the writing center community as a whole in the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) as Web Editor, Community College Representative, and as President. One of my goals is to bring writing center theory and practice to a broader and more diverse audience. I also served as Secretary for the Two-year College Association (TYCA) of the National Council of Teachers of English, and am currently its Archivist for TYCA. Because of my interest in peer tutoring in writing, I have been a long-term member of the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing (NCPTW). Recently I helped to plan and host the conference, and I am currently serving as the President of the NCPTW Board of Trustees.

Outreach Coordinator: Mary Ann Judge, University of Idaho

I am honored
that Star Coulbrooke nominated me to be the Outreach Coordinator for the Rocky
Mountain Writing Center Association. Shortly after I was hired as a lecturer in
the Department of English at the University of Idaho, I was asked to develop a
writing center. That was 1992, and I
have been doing this work ever since.

Each day,
when a student sits at one of our round tables with another student, I see the
power of collaborative learning in our writing center. It’s a safe space, a
place where students disclose what they don’t know, admit what’s hard for them
as writers, discover what they would really like to say in their writing, recognize
how a careful—and kind—reader responds to their work, and experience being
treated like a writer whose work merits close attention. It’s a place where the
tutors learn as much from the process as the students they assist.

Our writing
center community at the University of Idaho has enriched my life.I know I am privileged to do this work, and I
know I could not have done it without the wisdom of the larger writing center
community whose work I have experienced, for the most part, by reading. It’s
time for me to give back to that larger community. I must confess that I do not have a particular
plan for what I hope to accomplish in this role, other than reaching out to the
community and finding ways to bring us together.I have much to learn and welcome any guidance
others can offer.

One more
point: I was born in Denver and raised in Colorado. I love the idea of serving
an organization that begins with “Rocky Mountain.”

Treasurer: Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Metropolitan State University of
Denver

I have been involved with writing centers since 1995, as a tutor,
director, researcher, and evangelist. Although words are my first love, I am
comfortable with numbers, math, and spreadsheets, and I have the patience to
read through IRS publications. As treasurer, I would like to tighten up
oversight of our finances, including ensuring that RMWCA is in compliance with
all IRS rules about non-profit organizations. I will also explore options for
funding research grants and achievement awards to members.

Secretary: Michelle Miley, Montana State UniversityAlthough I have been in Writing Center work since 2005, I have only been in the Rocky Mountain region for two and a half years. In 2012, I became the Writing Center Director for Montana State University after serving as the Assistant Director of Writing in the Disciplines (through the Writing Center) at the University of Houston. My family and I love this region; we are so happy to call it home. Since I came to Montana, the RMWCA has opened its arms to me, and I would be honored to serve the organization in the role of secretary. My current research threads include theorizing the importance of undergraduate peer tutor research in Writing Centers, using institutional ethnography as a means by which to understand perceptions of Writing Center work across our institutions, and theorizing care in Writing Centers through the lens of feminist mothering. Such research threads speak to my understanding of the importance of relationships in our work. My vision for our local Writing Center is to create dynamic, collaborative environments that foster and maintain a community of writers. As secretary, I focus on community and relationship building within our own organization through maintaining our contact lists and records, and producing our newsletter twice a year, and keeping in contact with the President-elect for timely website updates.

Past-President: Star Colbrooke, Utah State University

I have been director of the Utah State University Writing Center since January 2008. I came up through the ranks as an undergrad tutor and writing fellow from 1993-1996, a graduate tutor from 1996-1998, and assistant director from 1999-2007. I’ve co-hosted three RMPTC’s, in 1999, 2004, and 2012.

My strengths as director are collaboration (with departments, colleges, and community), delegation (my staff of sixty tutors, supervisors, and associates eagerly take-on exciting roles which they manage well with little supervision), organization, and communication. I hope to be a catalyst for strengthening our ties as a region.

STATE REPRESENTATIVES

Arizona: Molly Rentscher, Arizona State University, West Campus

Molly Rentscher is Coordinator of the
Writing Center at Arizona State University’s West campus. She received
her master’s degree in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse as well as a
Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from
DePaul University. Prior to coming to ASU, she taught developmental and
first-year writing for both native speakers and second language writers in
Chicago, and she was a graduate assistant at the DePaul University Center for
Writing-based Learning. Her research interests include writing center
theory and practice, writing program administration, writing across the
curriculum, and writing in the disciplines. She is currently working on
several projects related to linguistic diversity and multilingual writing in
writing centers.

I have a diverse writing center background, and I am passionately
committed to the work we do at our centers. As an undergraduate and graduate
student, I tutored student athletes and developed and ran writing workshops at
the University of Oregon and Indiana University. I then served as an English
professor at East Los Angeles Community College, and I volunteered in the
Writing Center; I also worked with our director in training student tutors and
developing workshops. Currently, I am a professor in the English
department at Front Range Community College in Westminster, Colorado. In
addition to the consulting work in our writing center, I have also completed research
to improve faculty and student communication in the peer review process. I
recently presented these findings with Aaron Leff, our Writing Center Director,
at the IWCA conference in Pittsburgh. I see my position as Colorado representative as an
opportunity to grow my own experience and understanding of writing center
culture. More importantly, I would like to be your advocate in the issues that
matter to your centers, your tutors, and your students. I would like to find ways
to improve our communication so that we can continue to learn and grow.

Idaho: Melissa Keith, Boise State UniversityOne of the greatest strengths (and joys) of writing center work is our sense of community. Attending IWCA and NCPTW, and also coordinating the IWCA Summer Institute for two years, I experienced that sense of community in real time, forming lasting friendships and fruitful professional relationships. I hope to: 1) create a network of Idaho writing centers (both college and high school), and 2) forge connections between Idaho writing centers and regional and national organizations. By sharing our expertise and participating in regional and national conversations, we can be a rich resource to each other.

Montana: Rachel Dunleavy, University of Great Falls

Rachel moved to Montana in Fall 2014 after being hired to found
and direct the Writing & Critical Thinking Center at the University of
Great Falls. Rachel and her team of six peer tutors provide
in-person and online one-on-one consultations, in addition to group
workshops, to the UGF community. During the Spring 2016 semester,
the Writing & Critical Thinking Center also is collaborating with
several other faculty members to pilot an embedded tutor program in
freshman Humanities classes. Rachel finds the most rewarding parts
of her job to be training her wonderful tutors and working
with her colleagues on assignment design and in-class workshops for
their courses.

Rachel's involvement with writing centers began
ten years ago with a stint as an undergraduate peer tutor.
She then sought out opportunities to continue tutoring at both Georgetown
University, where she earned a M.A. in English, and the University of Denver,
where she is currently a doctoral candidate in English. She also
helped to coordinate a center at a Washington D.C. public
high school. Rachel has presented twice at the International
Writing Centers Association conference, once on the findings of a
cross-institutional study on transfer and the writing center, and
once on perceptions of "collaboration" in the reflective writing of
veteran tutors. When she's not reading, writing
or thinking about writing centers, Rachel can usually be found
engrossed in her other favorite field: Renaissance English drama.

Nevada: Robyn Rohde,College of Southern Nevada

Writing Center work has been an important part of my life since 2001, when I became one of Black Hills State University's first peer Writing Consultants in Spearfish, South Dakota. Since then, I have worked within Writing Centers in both Montana and Nevada as a consultant, coordinator, and manager. I have directed the Writing Center at College of Southern Nevada since 2011, where I also teach composition and chair the Writing Center Advisory Committee. I would be excited to serve as President-elect for Rocky Mountain Writing Centers Association to continue this great work with others. I have served as the Nevada State Representative for RMWCA since 2013. I am a member of the International Writing Center Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. I have presented my work at The National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing and just brought a team to present again for NCPTW 2015 in Salt Lake City. I also had the honor of serving as Local Arrangements Chair for the Conference on College Composition and Communication 2013 held in Las Vegas, NV. Serving as the President-Elect would allow me to continue my involvement on a local and regional level. I enjoy collaborating with directors, coordinators, and writing assistants from all over the country and am interested in creating ongoing opportunities for this kind of networking between the directors and staff throughout the Rocky Mountain region.

New Mexico: Katie Denton, University of New Mexico

Writing center work, for me, is both a profession and a
calling. One of the greatest pleasures of working as a writing center
professional at University of New Mexico has been supporting student writers as
they enter and navigate the world of higher education. Through my position, I
have become familiar with the diverse students that make up New Mexico’s
population, and supporting these students through their higher education
journey is my passion. As an active researcher and scholar in writing center
work, I am interested and engaged in the national conversation among writing
center professionals. Serving as New Mexico state representative for RMWCA
allows me to engage at the local level as well, discovering the work of my
peers throughout the state and representing their voices and contributions at
the regional level. I’m equally excited to hear about the work of other
institutions within the RMWCA, and to collaborate with fellow RMWCA
representatives. In a state where institutions of higher education are widely dispersed,
and where administrators strive each day to support diverse student writers, a
sense of community can sustain work that otherwise takes place in isolation. As
state representative, it is my mission to strengthen the community among my fellow New Mexico writing center
administrators.

Utah: Leigh Ann Copas, Utah Valley UniversityAs
the Utah state representative for RMWCA, I hope to become better
acquainted with the local writing center directors and their programs. I
would like to assist
in unifying our expertise and resources, and to develop a solid network
among programs. Recently, I attended the IWCA Summer Institute, and
I’ve been involved with NCLCA and attended the state and national CRLA
conferences. I’ve enjoyed the sense of community
and the continuing dialogues and friendships, and hope to share similar
experiences in Utah and throughout the Rocky Mountain region.

Wyoming: Darby Sawyer

As the Wyoming state representative for RMWCA, I will work
to coordinate the writing centers across Wyoming.Since we have a unique higher education
system in Wyoming of having just one University and several community colleges,
it is easy for our schools to be isolated.Wyoming could greatly benefit from the sharing of ideas from the
different colleges. While attending the
2014 IRWC in Orlando, I received many ideas about reorganizing both a new
physical space and adding new components, such as adding an oral communications
lab where students may practice and receive critiques while preparing oral
presentation.I would enjoy sharing
ideas with both directors and tutors from Wyoming and the RMWCA as to how they
are meeting challenges.

I have been employed at Casper College for eleven years as a
developmental English instructor. During
this time I have had a close association with our writing center. This year I became the co-director of the
writing center and am enjoying the challenges of remodeling an area that will
quadruple the physical space of our writing center and how to use that space to
benefit our students.